THRILLER - MYSTERY
Clare Mackintosh's book from 2018 is the BEST of her first three for me.
LET ME LIE has GREAT twists and is another Clare Mackintosh book you won't want to miss.
You won't see the twists coming and ask yourself how you missed them.
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October 1, 2024
Canary Street Press
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ABOUT ONE BIG HAPPY FAMILY:
Don’t come home for Christmas. . .
Julie Parker’s kids are her greatest gift. Still, she’s low-key joyful that they want to skip a big Christmas this year. Her son Nick is romancing his bride Blair with a belated honeymoon, while her daughter Dana plans to purge every reminder of the guy who dumped her. Again. Julie’s excited to hole up for the holiday with Heath, the (much) younger man she’s secretly dating.
Her plans go from cozy to chaotic when her kids change their minds and plead for Christmas at the family cabin in memory of their beloved father. Julie can’t refuse, despite being nervous about the over-the-top traditions her grown children still enjoy—and anxious about how they’ll feel when they meet Heath and realize she’s been lying to them for months. She has justified her deception by insisting to herself that they’re not serious, despite the spark she feels whenever he’s near.
As the guest list grows in surprising ways, from Blair’s estranged mom to Heath’s beautiful young ex, Julie’s secret is one of many to be unwrapped. Over this complicated and very funny Christmas, she’ll discover that more really is merrier, and that a big, happy family can become bigger and happier, if they all let go of old hurts and open their hearts to love.
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EXCERPT OF ONE BIG HAPPY FAMILY:
one
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“But you’re a woman.”
“Does that matter?”
“I don’t know. Do you know how to tow cars?”
Julie Parker did her best not to roll her eyes. At her age, it was a much less charming look. But still.
“Your car is fine,” she said, trying for patience, but failing to hit the mark and landing on snark instead. “You ran out of gas on the 405 freeway. If we should be questioning someone’s ability to exist in the world, we should probably start with you.”
“Hey!” The young twentysomething finally looked up from her phone and frowned. “You have attitude.”
“I do, and a busy schedule. Do you want help or not? It’s twenty bucks for the gas and seventy-five for the service visit.”
“Ninety-five dollars for a few gallons of gas? That’s robbery.”
“It’s also the price you were quoted when you called the company.”
Cars and trucks sped by on the busy freeway. It was a cold, rainy December afternoon, and Julie had a date with her very handsome boyfriend in a few hours. The last thing she wanted to do was waste time arguing with someone younger than either of her adult children.
The young woman shook her head. “I’m not paying that.”
“Fine by me.”
Julie started back to her tow truck, gas can in hand. The woman hurried after her.
“Wait. I’ll do it. So ninety-five dollars?”
“Yes. Tax is included in the price.” She fished her credit card reader from her overalls. “You pay, I pour.”
The woman gave her the stink eye, then reluctantly pushed a credit card into the machine. Less than five minutes later Julie had her money and the unhappy motorist had enough gas to get her on her way.
“Is this your car?” Julie asked, telling herself to walk away but unable to do so.
“It’s my boyfriend’s. He said I could drive it.”
Julie pointed to the instrument panel. “You probably always know how much gas is in your own car. It’s something we keep track of without thinking. But when you get into someone else’s car, check the gauge. When the weather’s like this, you can wait a long time for a tow truck, and the side of the freeway is a dangerous place.”
“Oh.” The other woman looked at the rushing traffic, then slid into the driver’s seat. “Thanks. I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Have a nice day,” Julie called as the twentysomething pulled away, sending gravel up in a spray.
She made her way to her truck, telling herself she’d gotten her good deed for the day out of the way early, so that was something. Thirty minutes after that, she pulled into the tow yard, driving under the big Parker Towing sign her grandfather had installed nearly fifty years ago. She parked the small tow truck she’d used for the call, then ran through the pelting rain to the safety of the main office where Mariah Carey’s version of “Santa Baby” played over the speakers. She hung the keys on the pegboard in the locking cabinet and put the credit card reader on the docking station where it would automatically download and tally the transaction.
Huxley, the office manager slash driver whisperer slash mother hen, looked at her over his reading glasses.
“Why do you do that? Why do you take a call like that? I go to lunch and when I come back, you’ve taken one of the trucks and gone out to face God knows what in this kind of weather. I don’t like to worry. When I worry, I get hives, and then I have to go see the doctor and that costs our insurance company money. Do you want the premiums to go up? I don’t think so. But you do this. Every six months or so you think it’s twenty-five years ago and you’re still driving a damned tow truck. You’re the boss. You’ve been the boss for a long time. It’d be really nice if you remembered it.”
“I was delivering gas, not doing a repo. I was fine. Besides, it’s fun to take one of the trucks out every now and then. I want to keep my hand in. The men need to respect me, and for that I need to prove my skills.”
“A chicken could drag gas out to some fool who forgot to fill up his car. What skills are you going on about?”
She laughed. “I had a good time. I’m allowed. Leave me alone.”
“I can feel those hives popping out all over my body,” he said as she started for her office. “And Axel’s waiting to talk to you. He has today’s list.”
Julie’s good mood instantly faded. She walked purposefully toward her office, not breaking stride as she crossed the threshold and headed for her desk. She ignored the tall, fit man standing by the window, a folder in his hands. As she took her seat, she allowed her gaze to linger on the baseball bat leaning casually against the corner.
From the time she was eight until she was thirteen, her father had insisted on weekly batting practice at the cages up by the park. After all those sessions, she had a hell of a swing, and she wasn’t afraid to connect with a ball or anything else that needed hitting.
Not that she went around beating people with a baseball bat, but it had been a deterrence on more than one call and keeping it nearby in certain situations gave her a sense of security. The world was a better place, at least from her perspective, when she knew she could handle whatever came at her. She never asked for help—instead she took care of the problem herself.
She drew in a breath, then raised her head and looked at the man watching her. “Axel.”
He moved toward her desk and set down the folder. “I have five for tonight.”
“Five’s a lot.”
She glanced at the papers. Sure enough, there were five cars the bank wanted back. They were all high end, late models with appropriately high repo fees.
After taking 25 percent off the top to cover expenses, including the lookout car, the company and repo guy split the fee fifty-fifty. It was dangerous work for not much reward and a part of the business she’d never understood. But repo guys lived on adrenaline, and she supposed someone had to go out and take back that which had not been paid for.
She closed the folder and pushed it toward him. “Try not to get shot.”
Axel flashed her a smile. “Me getting shot would solve a lot of your problems.” “Why would you say that? You’re my repo guy. I have no interest in finding another one.”
“You’re still mad at me. Any chance you could see your way past that?”
Mad didn’t come close to describing what she was feeling, she thought grimly, taking in his handsome face and dark eyes. He was the kind of man women noticed. A little dangerous, a little sexy, a lot of trouble.
“How long did you go out with my daughter?” His smile faded and he took a step back. “About two years.”
“How many times did she foolishly let you back in her life so you could break her heart yet again?”
His eyes became unreadable. “Three.”
“My count is four, but I’m not sure that matters. I’ll see my way past what you did to her when I’m good and ready. I’m thinking about thirty years, give or take.”
He hung his head. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t,” she snapped. “Don’t apologize to me. I only hate you by association. And if you really care about her, then stop screwing with her life. Leave her alone.”
“I’m trying.”
“Try harder.”
“The heart wants what the heart wants.”
“I’m pretty sure your heart isn’t the body part creating all the trouble.”
He looked at her. “You want me to quit?”
Some days she did, mostly when she was holding Dana as her daughter cried because Axel had once again dumped her. Because he’d been right—when it came to him, Dana’s heart did want what it wanted and, unfortunately, that was him. But on the rest of the days, she liked having Axel around. He was dependable, he understood the business and he had a habit of taking new hires under his wing, so to speak, and teaching them the tricks of the trade.
“You’re good at what you do,” Julie said reluctantly, staring out the window. “Stay away from her and we’ll be fine.”
“You’re a good mom.”
Words that should have pleased her but instead sent a quiver of guilt trickling through her. While she usually fell firmly in the “good mother” category, lately she’d been keeping secrets. Well, one secret. One big, tall, boyfriend-size secret.
At some point she was going to have to come clean about him, just not today, she thought. It was three weeks until Christmas. Her kids had plans that didn’t include her, Heath— the boyfriend, though she didn’t say that word aloud—didn’t have his kids for the holidays, so the two of them were going to hole up at her place and enjoy a little one-on-one time with nowhere else to be. She honestly couldn’t wait.
She carefully put the happy image out of her head, then returned her attention to Axel.
“Go get the cars,” she told him. “The weather’s going to get worse. Remember that and don’t try any fancy moves. Those big trucks you’re driving belong to me.”
The smile returned. “Yes, ma’am.”
He took the paperwork and left. When Julie was sure he was out of earshot, she murmured, “And don’t get dead.” Because while she was pissed as hell at Axel, she wasn’t heartless. Besides, except for when he crapped on her daughter, he was a good guy and secretly she liked him. Well, at least when it came to Parker Towing.
As for Dana and her devotion to the man, well, her daughter was thirty-one years old. At some point she was going to have to figure out how to move on. Because that was how life worked. You tried something and if it didn’t go well, you moved on. Julie’s father had taught her that, along with how to swing a bat, and she’d learned both lessons very, very well.
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Excerpted from ONE BIG HAPPY FAMILY by Susan Mallery, Copyright © 2024 by Susan Mallery.
Published by Canary Street Press, an imprint of HarperCollins.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
SUSAN MALLERY is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of novels about the relationships that define women's lives—family, friendship and romance.
Library Journal says, “Mallery is the master of blending emotionally believable characters in realistic situations," and readers seem to agree—forty million copies of her books have been sold worldwide.
Her warm, humorous stories make the world a happier place to live.
Susan grew up in California and now lives in Seattle with her husband.
She's passionate about animal welfare, especially that of the Ragdoll cat and adorable poodle who think of her as Mom.
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Based on a true story, Falk-Allen’s “A Wolff in the Family” is a riveting saga of prejudice, passion, and revenge, perfect for fans of Kristin Hannah’s “The Four Winds.”
What mysterious scandals led a father to abandon his five youngest children—and the elder siblings to keep their shame a secret for eighty years?
“A Wolff in The Family is an absolute page-turner! Immediately immersive, readers will be drawn into the hardships and small joys of the Wolff family as they attempt to make a living in rural Utah—Frank as a philandering “railroad man” and Naomi as a suffering housewife and mother of ten children with little emotional support from Frank. Falk-Allen paints a realistic picture of the West during the early part of the twentieth century with her vivid prose and realistic characters. An intriguing story about social norms, gender roles, and, ultimately, love. This is a fast, absorbing story that will keep you up long into the night. Couldn’t put it down!” —Michelle Cox, author of The Fallen Woman's Daughter
“‘A Wolff in The Family’ is an absolute page-turner! Immediately immersive, readers will be drawn into the hardships and small joys of the Wolff family as they attempt to make a living in rural Utah—Frank as a philandering “railroad man” and Naomi as a suffering housewife and mother of ten children with little emotional support from Frank. Falk-Allen paints a realistic picture of the West during the early part of the twentieth century with her vivid prose and realistic characters. An intriguing story about social norms, gender roles, and, ultimately, love. This is a fast, absorbing story that will keep you up long into the night. Couldn’t put it down!” —Michelle Cox, author of “The Fallen Woman's Daughter”
“Heartbreaking at its core, Francine Falk-Allen's ‘A Wolff in the Family’ takes the bones of a long-hidden family secret and fleshes it out to include a large cast of characters who come alive on the page. From abject poverty and a life saddled with a dozen children she's raising alone, Naomi Wolff is drowning: physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Seeking comfort in a forbidden friendship, she is stripped of her children by her abusive and vindictive husband. Kudos to Falk-Allen for taking this project on, making it both compelling and relatable, and shedding light into dark corners of family history. A bold and important read.”—Ashley E. Sweeney, author of “Eliza Waite”
“Francine Falk-Allen has skillfully accomplished this family-story-to-novel rebirth in ‘A Wolff in the Family.’ Set a century ago in Utah and surrounding states, the hard-scrabble life, children and marriages of Naomi Wolff vividly recall a world of societal rules, privation, race and class restrictions, and the human spirit that can prevail over all of them with love and devotion. Another great read from this author!”—Barbara Stark-Nemon, author of “Even in Darkness” and “Hard Cider”
“An empathetic lesson in resilience and forgiveness, ‘A Wolff in the Family’ takes an unflinching look at complex familial ties, gender roles, and the hardships of women in the early 20th century through one family's story across the United States. With the kind of drama that builds, this captivating book is a multifaceted tale with flawed and human characters and the complicated decisions that make a life.”—Joanne Howard, author of “Sleeping in the Sun”
“‘A Wolff in the Family’ absolutely made me feel—curiosity, apprehension, relief, outrage, hope, compassion, and more. The book’s cinematic storytelling, with vivid details about the characters, their habits, and their personalities as well as the energetic pacing of events captivated me from the start. I could not put it down! The immersive descriptions of domestic life put me in the shoes of the Wolff women and girls, who, along with all the other family members, became real to me because of Falk-Allen’s excellent character development.”—Ilze Duarte, PhD, recipient of the 2024 Sundial House Literary Translation Award
“‘A Wolff in the Family,’ historical fiction with a touch of memoir, belongs among the great multi-generational family sagas, such as ‘The Forsyte Saga,’ ‘East of Eden,’ and ‘The Thorn Birds.’ Francine Falk-Allen weaves a complex story of light and dark, of human failings compounded by the oppressive gender roles in traditional families. The characters come alive on the page, drawing you into a vivid world of yesterday.”–Jude Berman, author of “The Die” and “The Vow”
“This well-crafted novel will break your heart, bring you joy, and make you grateful to be living in the 21st century.”—Susen Edwards, author of “What a Trip” and “Lookin’ for Love”
“Women have always wanted agency over their own lives, and in this fascinating fictionalized account of her family history, Francine Falk-Allen reminds us that such agency has not always come easily. With its universal themes of love, sacrifice, and freedom, ‘A Wolff in the Family’ shows us how far we’ve come, even as we recognize and find resonance with the characters’ deepest longings.”—Ginny Kubitz Moyer, author of “The Seeing Garden”
“A moving and evocative family saga, consummately constructed, and beautifully narrated. Francine Falk-Allen delivers a novel that is emotionally engaging and powerful—but at the same time relentless in its probing of gender inequality, and how its consequences have manifested across generations in America.”—Robert Steven Goldstein, author of the novels “Will’s Surreal Period,” “Enemy Queen,” “Cat’s Whisker,” and “The Swami Deheftner”
“I was intrigued by the fascinating, well-drawn characters and plot twists in ‘A Wolff in the Family.’ The author brings us into a time and a world she has researched well and portrays with historical accuracy. No spoilers here, but a surprise near the book’s conclusion grabbed me. I recommend this novel for an enjoyable read that will likely keep you wondering what will happen next.”—Marcia Naomi Berger, author of “The Bipolar Therapist: A Journey from Madness to Love and Meaning”
ABOUT A WOLFF IN THE FAMILY:
Railroad engineer Frank Wolff and Kansas farmgirl Naomi Sims were happily married in 1908.
Naomi was excited to take up her role as wife and mother and make a life with Frank in thriving Ogden, Utah. Despite Frank’s almost-constant absence due to his job riding the rails, their romantic relationship resulted in fourteen children.
The young mother’s life was consumed with caring for her brood, who became helpers as soon as they could fold a diaper.
Affection and conflict endured side by side in the humble house, but the marriage ultimately faced insurmountable challenges—just before the Depression took hold of the nation.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
FRANCINE FALK-ALLEN: was born in Los Angeles and has lived nearly all of her life in northern California. She had polio in 1951, and has lived her life as a disabled person making an effort to be a “normie.”
Falk-Allen was originally an art major and later completed her BA in Managerial Accounting, running her own business for over thirty years. She has always sought creative outlets, such as painting, singing, and writing. She began doing extensive family genealogy research in 1999, and has traced both her maternal and paternal ancestors back to the 1600s.
Her first book, “Not a Poster Child: Living Well with a Disability,” won gold and silver awards and was on several best books lists in 2018 and 2019, including Kirkus Reviews’ Best Books of 2018, PopSugar and BuzzFeed, and was nominated to 25 Women Making a Difference in 2019 by Conversations Magazine.
Her second book, “No Spring Chicken: Stories and Advice from a Wild Handicapper,” received a Kirkus star, given to “books of exceptional merit” by Kirkus Reviews, and was named to Kirkus Reviews’ Best Books of August 2021. “No Spring Chicken” was also a finalist in Foreword Reviews’ Indie Awards in 2021.
Her third book, “A Wolff in the Family” is a riveting early twentieth century saga set in the western United States and based on scandalous family history.
Francine spends a significant amount of time managing the effects of post-polio. She facilitates a polio survivors’ group as well as a writing group, and volunteers on her town’s Americans with Disabilities Act Accessibility Committee. She loves the outdoors, swimming, gardening, movies, well-written literature, being with friends and sharing British tea and a little champagne now and then. She resides in San Rafael, California, with her husband. Learn more at: https://francinefalk-allen.com
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MORE ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Award-winning author Francine Falk-Allen’s two acclaimed memoirs have been featured by Buzzfeed and PopSugar, and have received a Kirkus star.
A fan of genealogy research, Francine enjoyed uncovering her family’s history, and traced both her maternal and paternal ancestors back to the 1600s.
She never imagined that one day she’d discover a jaw-dropping family secret.
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An Interview with
Francine Falk-Allen
What inspired you to write “A Wolff in the Family”?
At a memorial service for one of my mother’s myriad brothers and sisters, an aunt mentioned offhandedly, “When we were in the orphanage…” and I was taken aback. My mother, long dead and the eldest child, had never mentioned this. I said, “Aunt Dorothy, what orphanage? What are you talking about?” She then gave me two or three more surprising comments which led me to inquire with other family members, and meld it with what my mother had related… and I thought it was just too juicy a story to pass up. I’m the author in the family, so I felt that it fell to me.
How much of the book is true-to-life, and how much is fiction?
The main events of the story, including how the youngest children ended up in an orphanage and some of the events that led up to that, are factual, and most of the resulting repercussions are true as well. I had to surmise how some of these things came to pass, and using census records and family birth, marriage and death records, I pieced together where people would have been, which led me to guess how some of the characters could have met in a particular way or place; so some of that is made up but based on possibility. I also included family vignettes which really happened. I made up nearly all of the conversations, of course, which took place from 1918 through the early 1950’s, but I set everything in places that really existed. All of the characters were real people, some of whom I knew, with most of the names changed.
What was the research process like for you?
As a genealogy buff, I loved doing the research. Not only was looking up the census material fun for me, but researching newspapers for bits on a divorce, and how much things cost in those days in the areas where the story takes place. For instance, I learned that my mother’s family would likely not have afforded a vacuum yet but probably used a carpet sweeper. Details like this add realism to the story. My mother loved to sing, and I assumed her mother probably did as well, so I looked up which songs were popular at different points in the story, along with which films and celebrities. I felt immersed in the era from 1918 through the 40’s, especially.
What had your mother told you about her home life and her parents’ relationship?
My mother had told me she was the eldest of twelve children (there were actually more) and that she came to resent taking care of them, as the eldest, and also gave me some details of her childhood. She related that she was the last in the tub on Saturday nights and disliked being in the other kids’ dirty bathwater, and that her dad got the best piece of chicken and the youngest children got a wing or a neck, and that she hated that her mother bit her nails. She had told me her parents had been divorced and remarried, but held back all of the details of why they’d split up. I knew my grandfather, but he was very tight-lipped (like father, like daughter) and the grandmother I knew was my step-grandmother, which I did not know until I was around eleven; I then asked what had happened to my blood grandmother, and got a clipped answer.
What do you hope readers take away from the book, especially regarding the gender inequality that we see in Naomi’s life?
I would like people to take a look at how they might be judging family members and the choices they make, and the personality traits we and others have developed, which may only be a result of how people were raised. I would like people to consider how things, thankfully, have changed, with regard to the limitations racism and gender roles place upon us, and how the world one hundred years ago was far more limiting for women’s choices, and how secrecy can lead to more shame. For instance, laws today can be favorable for a wife as well as the husband; women are not as much considered chattel beholding to their spouses. And then, to look at how societal attitudes do still remain the same in many ways, in many locales, in many social or religious groups, as they were one hundred years ago. Some may even see this as a good thing, but I feel these judgements, and the social and mental restrictions they engender, limit human potential. In World War II, women became aware of their ability to earn money and be more than a domestic servant to the rest of the family, and this opened the door to first steps toward equality and pursuit of a more fulfilling life.
What advice would you give to readers who are interested in doing research on their own family histories?
Start with what you know, and ask the people who are the oldest in your life what they remember or know to be factual, such as the dates of your ancestors’ births and deaths, plus any stories they can tell. There are bound to be some myths which are not true (there were in my father’s family as well). Then you can do internet research such as is available in Family Search or Ancestry, but you have to be careful, because many people will insert things they think are true without having seen an actual birth, marriage, christening, baptism, military or death record. I originally went in person to the source, the National Archives, twenty-five years ago, and some other locations, and looked for copies of original documents, as did some of my cousins, especially the Allen cousins, not as much the Mormons on my mother’s side; they have been less careful even though they have a reputation for interest in genealogy. Notation should be made for estimates and unverified stories, but many amateur family sleuths do not do due diligence. In the process you may unearth written newspaper articles or other stories, such as whether a relative’s death record listed slaves as assets, or whether they owned a particular piece of property, which can lead you to their location and more possible stories! Once you get the bug, allow lots of time, because it’s a fascinating tunnel to pursue.
